“Journey to the West” is one of the most famous ancient Chinese long mythological novels written by Wu Cheng’en (1504-1582). The historical fact of Xuanzang, a monk of Tang Dynasty, going to India to obtain scriptures has been passed down through generations of folklore to form the story of “Journey to the West”. The confidence for faith, which leads the journey towards the west with perseverance, against all odds and bizarre, the mythological imagination walks throughout the whole novel. In the novel, Wu Cheng’en portrayed the characters of the Tang Monk, Monkey King, Monk Pig and Monk Sand, which are well known to the nation and became one of the Four Great Masterpieces of ancient China. It was turned into a TV serial drama in 1986 by CCTV.
Since the opening up in early 1980s, China has been gradually exposed to information from the “West”, a new cultural trend that takes Western modern and contemporary culture as a sample has emerged, with more and more "West goers" studying and settling abroad. “The New Journey to the West” was hatched under this realistic environment, the artist appropriated some image clips from the TV series, reconstructed them and brought them to Vancouver, inviting four artists and curators who had left China and settled in Vancouver, as well as four local artists and intellectual to play different roles and speak their inner words to the “muted video”. This is a reflection of the contextual relationship between the different identities in the context of "Journey to the West".
This work includes partial clips of TV series "Journey to the West" and is edited with lines read by specifically invited persons based on their own experiences.
Tang Monk — Zheng Shengtian (former professor of China Academy of Art, now living in Canada)
Monkey King — Gu Xiong (former lecturer of Si Chuan Art College of China Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, now living in Canada)
Monk Pig — Lin Jingshan (Canadian artist of Chinese origin)
Monk Sand — Zhang Qiang (former editor of Chinese Art Journal, now living in Canada)
Buddha — Hank Bull (Canadian artist)
Guan Yin — Zainub Verjee (anadian artist of Indian origin)
Emissary — Kate Craig (Canadian artist)
Boatman — Antonia Hirsch (Canadian artist of German origin)
Detail pictures:
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